A known sunroof apparatus is disclosed in JP56-017721A. According to the sunroof apparatus disclosed, an opening portion is formed on a roof of a vehicle for the purposes of ventilation, lighting, and the like. A sunroof panel (or a lid), and a sunshade are provided at the opening portion. Further, in order to prevent undesirable airflow from coming through a front portion of the opening portion when the sunroof panel is in an open position, a wind deflector that is comprised of a panel is attached at a front end of the opening portion. The wind deflector may also be called a deflector panel. Both ends of the wind deflector in a vehicle width direction are connected by means of respective coil springs to a pair of arms having a distance therebetween and arranged along a pair of guide rails that are provided on both sides in the vehicle width direction of the opening portion respectively. Both of the arms are pivotally supported by a vehicle body at rear ends and biased in a vehicle exterior direction by means of plate springs respectively. In this configuration, when the sunroof panel moves in an open direction, the arms are released so as to move upward, thereby causing front portions of the arms to rise, i.e. to move in the vehicle exterior direction, by means of the plate springs respectively. Consequently, the wind deflector is moved to a predetermined position.
The wind deflector is secured at an operating position in such a manner that a front-edge sealing member of the wind deflector makes contact with a lower face of the roof located at a front of the opening portion.
When the sunroof panel is opened, the arms are released to move upward thereby causing the front portions to rise. The wind deflector moves from the stored position to the operating position accordingly. At this time, the front-edge sealing member of the deflector panel makes contact with the lower face of the roof. Then, the sealing member moves rearward while scraping against the lower face of the roof along with further rising of the front portions of the arms. Then, rising of the front portions of the arms (i.e. a rotation relative to a pivot point of each arm) are stopped and thus sliding of the sealing member relative to the lower face of the roof is also stopped. The operating position of the wind deflector is ensured accordingly.
According to the aforementioned structure, sealing structure between the sunroof panel and the front portion of the opening portion is limited (for example, a flange cannot be formed at the front of the opening portion) when the sunroof panel is in a closed state, which results in small flexibility of designing of the sealing structure.
Thus, a need exists for a sunroof apparatus that can achieve a flexible designing of a sealing structure. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides such an apparatus.